Grub's Canucks & NHL News, Rumours, and & Fantasy GM | Trade Breezes

[Diamonddog01]

Yeah, switch D-Perry for Kudeyavtsev and I’d do it. I’m exetremly high on D-Petey and believe he’ll be in the NHL next season.

I feel the same. Also would be happy to give up Hoglander instead of a prospect or in combination with a lesser prospect,

 

[Vector]

Dude somehow has a half PPG. I haven't noticed him at all out there.

Everyone who has watched a game live has commented on how he pops there but not on TV. There's been a lot of players like that. Always in the right place and pushing the play in the right direction. Around the net offensively or chipping the puck out to facilitate controlled exits.

 

[credulous]

100% agreed. In 2-3 years when Willander and D Petey might be core pieces, 2/3rd of our top line will likely be exiting their prime (Miller and Boeser), with no real replacement for Miller's contributions in sight.

People treat this team like the typical young team who's contention window just opened, but they're forgetting the core's age. Realistically, we should've been making the playoffs from 2019-2020 onwards given the core pieces we had in place & where they were in their development, but management was absolutely dogwater at identifying complementary pieces on the bluelines, in the bottom 6, or a good coaching staff.

Unless you're of the belief that this core just isn't good enough, or that you'd rather just make the playoffs every year instead of contend, this is the time to go for it.

they really need to optimize around hughes. he has two years beyond this on his contract and while i'm not a doomer that thinks he's going to bolt at the first opportunity to play with his brothers or "go home" to michigan i do think it would be foolish to take it for granted he'll reup here. that gives them 3 shots at the cup that happen to line up pretty nicely with what should be pettersson's peak and hopefully before age starts to creep up on miller too much

given that i don't think you can really pin your hopes on players like lekkerimaki, willander, (elias nils) pettersson and raty coming in and filling the holes in the roster. the team needs to look at every opportunity to add talent and depth to the roster that comes with more certainty than hoping willander will step in immediately as a top 4 dman. that's a losing bet in my opinion

i also think they have to be careful not to overcommit to this year's team. in retrospect they definitely did that last year moving out kuzmenko, brzustewicz, a first and two thirds with nothing to show for it this year. ideally they'd add to this roster in a way that also adds to the 2026 and 2027 rosters so they can compound those efforts

 

[Vector]

Last Night’s Game

• Had a tonne of days off and practice time
• No excuses
• Liked that Tocchet apologized to the fans
• A coaching saying they were “outcoached” is not to be taken lightly
• Alarm trends with the team
• Scored 18 fewer goals and allowed 15 more against
• 27-9-5 at home last year
• No compete in front of fans
• Blueline only had 5 hits last night
• Soucy-Myers let two goals go unchecked and Hughes-Hronek responsible for another one
• 4 netfront goals by the Oilers

Acquiring a Defenceman

• Won’t be easy to fix the blueline; prices are very high
• Says that you need to trade for players that aren’t on the Penguins
• Well aware that Marcus Pettersson is available but the price is high

Schedule

• Canucks schedule has been very easy; need to start collecting points
• Haven’t played 4 of the top-5 teams in the Western Conference

Boeser

• Really good to see Boeser at the rink yesterday
• 8 days ago he got hit
• Horrible timing; UFA and 4 Nations team was watching him
• If Boeser is out long-term, Canucks will need to get a top-6 forward
• Can’t put a timeline on head injuries
• No one in the organization thought Poolman’s injury would be career threatening; was also dealing with whiplash issues and still is
• Hoping Boeser gets a little bit better every day

 

[thecupismine]

they really need to optimize around hughes. he has two years beyond this on his contract and while i'm not a doomer that thinks he's going to bolt at the first opportunity to play with his brothers or "go home" to michigan i do think it would be foolish to take it for granted he'll reup here. that gives them 3 shots at the cup that happen to line up pretty nicely with what should be pettersson's peak and hopefully before age starts to creep up on miller too much

given that i don't think you can really pin your hopes on players like lekkerimaki, willander, (elias nils) pettersson and raty coming in and filling the holes in the roster. the team needs to look at every opportunity to add talent and depth to the roster that comes with more certainty than hoping willander will step in immediately as a top 4 dman. that's a losing bet in my opinion

i also think they have to be careful not to overcommit to this year's team. in retrospect they definitely did that last year moving out kuzmenko, brzustewicz, a first and two thirds with nothing to show for it this year. ideally they'd add to this roster in a way that also adds to the 2026 and 2027 rosters so they can compound those efforts

There's plenty to show for the moves last year, even if none of it is currently on the roster. The team was a couple of freak injuries away (Demko, Boeser) from taking out the Oilers and going to the WCF.

This same mindset is what had people freaking out about draft position when Petey and Hughes were playing big minutes at the end of the 2023 season. Sometimes, getting the experience of doing something/showing how great you can be/how close you are to getting there is way more valuable than the hard asset itself.

The Mats Sundin acquisition was a superb example of this in 2008/2009 - the Sedins broke out the year after, Kesler turned into a top 6 forward as soon as they started playing together, and the young guys on the roster took a big step. The mental aspect of the game is huge, and is wildly underrated around these parts.

The acquisitions pushed this team hard, and showed the core their internal faults/flaws that they need to overcome to take that next step to win it all. That's more valuable for this team's timeline than a first and a couple nothingburgers.

 

[credulous]

There's plenty to show for the moves last year, even if none of it is currently on the roster. The team was a couple of freak injuries away (Demko, Boeser) from taking out the Oilers and going to the WCF.

i don't mean that it was futile or counterproductive. i just mean that literally they spent assets to improve the roster and none of those improvements carried over to this year. yes there are intangibles in the way you described but those will never compensate for a lack of talent on the roster and a lack of assets to go get more

i'm just saying they need to be careful not to treat each season as the only season

 

[pitseleh]

There's plenty to show for the moves last year, even if none of it is currently on the roster. The team was a couple of freak injuries away (Demko, Boeser) from taking out the Oilers and going to the WCF.

This same mindset is what had people freaking out about draft position when Petey and Hughes were playing big minutes at the end of the 2023 season. Sometimes, getting the experience of doing something/showing how great you can be/how close you are to getting there is way more valuable than the hard asset itself.

The Mats Sundin acquisition was a superb example of this in 2008/2009 - the Sedins broke out the year after, Kesler turned into a top 6 forward as soon as they started playing together, and the young guys on the roster took a big step. The mental aspect of the game is huge, and is wildly underrated around these parts.

The acquisitions pushed this team hard, and showed the core their internal faults/flaws that they need to overcome to take that next step to win it all. That's more valuable for this team's timeline than a first and a couple nothingburgers.

I think the point was to make those types of deals but for players you can keep around for a few seasons to take advantage of the current window, rather than rentals.

The Canucks just don’t have enough assets to go all in for three more deadlines so they have to make the most of what they have unless they want to run out of steam a year or two early.

Vegas has done this with guys like Stone, Hertl, Martinez, etc. Tampa with Hagel, Paul, Jeannot, etc.

Lindholm would have been an awful long-term add at the price they offered him.

 

[Vector]

Nothing Canucks-related but I thought the conversation about the Penguins and the other about Jiricek were interesting.

Pittsburgh Penguins

• Don’t expect big moves from the Penguins
• Penguins have never thrown in the towel on a season with Crosby and Malkin
• Admits he got burned by the Game of Thrones fans because Jon Snow did bend the knee; needs to stop with the culture references because not good at them
• Sooner or later you can’t keep trying the same path
• Dubas mandate is to get them through the Crosby era and prepare the organization for when it’s over
• Dubas wants young NHLers or prospects that are close to NHL ready
• More and more defencemen being taken off the market; a lot of people think the Kings will re-sign Gavrikov
• Some players have term; Nedeljkovi and Acciari are mentioned
• O’Connor doesn’t get a lot of points but is under 1m and can play anywhere in the line-up
• Thinks if Crosby was going to go, he wouldn’t have signed an extension
• If deep down Crosby was convinced the Penguins were going to contend and once they start rebuilding he realizes he couldn’t stomach it, then he may ask for a trade
• Penguins won’t go to Crosby but Crosby will have to go to the Penguins
• No interest in moving Malkin and he doesn’t want to leave
• There are teams that love Letang and have a lot of respect but his contract is risky and contains insurance questions
• Up to Karlsson if he wants to move on; his salary goes down each year
• If Sharks (he meant Penguins) retain there is going to be a team that would acquire Karlsson
• Bukauskas points out that the attendance is dropping
• Fans vote with their wallets and that gives more incentive to make changes
• Sullivan is not giving up
• Going to be hard to find a better coach than Sullivan; only reason to fire him is that the key players aren’t listening to him, doesn’t believe this is the case
• Not making a change for change sake

Blue Jackets & Jiricek

• Evason has told Jiricek he has to earn the right to play
• Blue Jackets veterans want a higher standard
• Jiricek wants to play
• Worry that the “waters are already too deep”
• Is already chaffing a bit
• Way too early to give up on him
• Don’t usually become available this quickly
• There are organizations watching the situation to see where it goes

 

[thecupismine]

i don't mean that it was futile or counterproductive. i just mean that literally they spent assets to improve the roster and none of those improvements carried over to this year. yes there are intangibles in the way you described but those will never compensate for a lack of talent on the roster and a lack of assets to go get more

i'm just saying they need to be careful not to treat each season as the only season

Yeah that's completely fair. It's why someone like Guentzel would've been a better deadline move last year than Lindholm, as you want that player back long-term afterwards whereas with Lindholm he saved us from signing him to a terrible deal.

The short-term guys moving forward should be in the Zadorov mold, where the asset cost is relatively neglible.

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

Y'know, Ethan Bear's been playing pretty well in the AHL ...

Hughes-Bear
Brannstrom-Hronek
Soucy-Myers

...could be an interesting stopgap.

i don't mean that it was futile or counterproductive. i just mean that literally they spent assets to improve the roster and none of those improvements carried over to this year. yes there are intangibles in the way you described but those will never compensate for a lack of talent on the roster and a lack of assets to go get more

i'm just saying they need to be careful not to treat each season as the only season

Yep. I do not want to significant assets expended on rentals. Not a fan of targeting Pettersson. Get a guy with term - Fowler, (Hampus) Lindholm, and Sanheim are the guys I'm eyeing.

 

[credulous]

vegas is apparently extending mcnabb so that probably means hague is available for the right price. i don't think hague is really a top 4 defender but he's probably better than all but two of the canucks current defenders and he's big enough for tocchet/foote to play while still being able to move the puck

 

[StreetHawk]

If Sid didn't consult other people about the state of the pens, then no one should feel bad for him. He had the option to ask for a trade if he wanted to. If he was delusional that Pitt would do more than barely compete for the WC spot, he needed someone to tell him otherwise to the reality that the Pens are in.

 

[Vector]

vegas is apparently extending mcnabb so that probably means hague is available for the right price. i don't think hague is really a top 4 defender but he's probably better than all but two of the canucks current defenders and he's big enough for tocchet/foote to play while still being able to move the puck

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

Hawks are in town.

Doubtful, but I'd look at acquiring Alec Martinez who is nearing a return. Pending UFA for $4M. Can play either side.

He's on the older side but could still provide Top 4 minutes.

Another pipedream would be to acquire Reichel in the same trade. Nucks are super thin at LW and have q good amount of potential depth now at RW with Boeser, Garland and Lekkerimaki.

Again, I don't see why Chicago would give him up unless something of significant value goes the other way.

Just a thought.

 

[Bojack Horvatman]

Come on Allvin. It's Friday, so give me my trade fix

 

[Vector]

Come on Allvin. It's Friday, so give me my trade fix

4pm

 

[theguardianII]

Boeser on the table. What can they get for him?
Should be something pretty decent.

BUT NO MORE TOCCHET GUYS unless dmen but then Rutherford/Allvin had already made the defence one of the biggest in the league and guess what they ended up 5th in the league with different goalies in the net.

Another question, do they fire the team again or fire the coach, again. Every time a new coach is hired there has been a reassurance of success by this core group.

This core has had 5 years to go beyond one playoff appearance now 3 of 4 core players have degraded, Demko, Pettersson and even Miller to some extent.
The cap will dictate whether they sign or trade Boeser. They can resign him but the cost in staying static on the rest of the roster. Just a guessed at number for Boeser lets say he agrees to stay for home town discount of a 15% pay increase taking him to a 7.7 million cap hit the team still has to shed salary, they have to pay 4.7 million to OEL to play in TO.

They are just 4 points from 26th in the league and they have had one of the easiest schedules in the league by far.

It is still early yet but ....

 

[Bgav]

Come on Allvin. It's Friday, so give me my trade fix

its not a long weekend

 

[theguardianII]

Come on Allvin. It's Friday, so give me my trade fix

Who do Rutherford and Allvin know that are GMs and other connections with teams needing help as well?
Columbus, Carolina, Pittsburgh, ?

What asset with value do they have to trade? Boeser. Especially if Lekkerimaki can replace him on that line which Tocchet and Miller seem to be promoting his good play after only one game.

That might explain the general let down from the rest of the players, knowing a retooling may be coming. If they could dismantle the playoff team certainly they will dismantle this failing experiment. They may give it more time yet but the window for change has to very small.

There are empty seats.